Science and Technology

I. Introduction 

 

The latest trade battle between the U.S. and the EU concerns genetically modified food (GMF), specifically plants and foods made from plants which have been genetically modified by the addition of genes from unrelated organisms. Plants used for food production have long been genetically modified in some manner. First through genetic evolution and later through selective breeding, both nature and man have altered the plants used in the food supply so that they have favorable growing and nutritional characteristics.

The Codex Alimentarius (Codex) is a commission jointly sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex adopts standards that may be used by its 162 participating governments to develop national regulations. Codex is currently developing a variety of international standards for the trade of genetically modified food (GMF).(1)

 

In July 2003, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of the United Kingdom invited proposals for a "Study into the Legal and Moral Framework for Marine Biotechnology Development in the UK." The study, when complete, should constitute a pioneering effort to deal with a growing and important field of international law that is poorly understood and researched but that is gaining considerable significance in practice, and poses complex legal, moral and environmental issues. [1]

The outbreak of a new infectious disease-Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)-in Asia and its spread to many countries in the Asian region and beyond raise many public health and policy questions and challenges for governments, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The SARS outbreak also implicates international law, and this Insight briefly discusses three areas of international law affected by SARS and the efforts to contain the spread of the disease.

 

Basic Information on the SARS Epidemic

 

The U.N. Secretary-General's High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change has issued a lengthy report setting out a broad framework for collective security. [1]   It touches on several issues of international law and organization, including some important ones that are the focus of this Insight.  

 

On November 10, a dispute-settlement panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) condemned the United States for banning online gambling. [1]   It did so at the request of one of the smallest countries in the world, Antigua and Barbuda.  The case was triggered when in 2000 a U.S. court sentenced Jay Cohen, a U.S. national and founder of the World Sports Exchange, to 21 months in jail for selling gambling services to U.S. citizens from the island of Antigua, in violation of the 1961 Wire Communications Act. 

 

As was widely expected, on April 7, 2005, the WTO Appellate Body substantially reversed an earlier Panel decision condemning a US ban on internet gambling.[1]